Part I of 3, for Deadfairies's Secrets in the Lab Challenge :) I wrote the whole thing fairly quickly in between revision today so it hasn't been proofread particularly thoroughly, though parts 2 and 3 will be. I know I have other fics to finish but when you're under time pressure it's much easier to start something from scratch than carry on with something mid flow, so I promise to pick up my other fics later this week when my exams are all over. In the meantime, I've got my first one tomorrow, and reviews would really make me feel better. :) And I will love you forever.

Let me know what you think, and I'll get the next chapter up very soon :)

Love Flossie xxx

Secrets in the Lab Challenge

Part I

He didn't think anything of it when he first saw the envelope. In all fairness, there was nothing about it which marked it out in anyway, nothing particularly distinguishable; just a large white envelope addressed to Dr N Alexander. Well, nothing distinguishable aside from the postmark, the circular ink stamp in the corner of the envelope that should have at least given him a hint as to what this was, where this had come from. But he didn't pick up on it. Why should he have? It was a cold, mid-January morning, Nikki was in Bath at a five-day conference to discuss newly developed techniques for quick and easy facial reconstruction (and possibly visit the Jane Austen museum whilst she was there, Leo suspected) and some nasty form of flu was going around and more than half of the lab technicians had called in sick, which left Leo with the unenviable task of sorting through the mound of post that had arrived over the weekend before his meeting later that morning. He needed to get it done quickly before Harry arrived and there was no hope of getting it done before he had to head off to meet with the coroner; when Harry didn't have Nikki to distract in order to avoid having to actually do any work before 11 in the morning, he tended to turn to Leo instead.

And so there simply wasn't any time to stop and consider what each letter might be- and apart from anything that would be prying- there was only time to frantically throw the post into piles and deliver to respective desks. There wasn't even time to turn over the envelope and take in the return address on the back, which was probably just as well, Leo decided in hindsight, because if he had then he might have struggled to maintain his concentration through his meeting. He might have struggled to keep himself from spending that hour and a half worrying.

Leo barely even had time to greet Harry as their paths crossed in the doorway, just about had time to say good morning, that he would be back in a couple of hours or so and he had left his post on his desk. He strongly suspected that Harry was going to be as bored as he was during that hour and a half of sitting listening to the coroner wittering on about nothing in particular, especially since he didn't have Nikki to tease. He had long since first come to notice that neither Harry nor Nikki quite managed to function properly without the other one there; while Nikki tended to give up on her work every few minutes and gaze out of the window with a strange, mournful sort of smile on her face in Harry's absence, her friend also had a habit of gazing out the window, but differed in the sense that he wouldn't bother with the work phase in between daydreams, just span his office chair like an overexcited child and doodled in the corner of each and every one of Nikki's postits instead, seemingly for no particular purpose other than to drive her mad when she got back. Which was probably part of the reason they tended to take work-related holidays together of late, Leo mused, so that he wouldn't end up effectively two pathologists down at once.

He arrived back at the Lyell Centre once the meeting was finally over to find Harry on the phone to Nikki, feet propped up on her side of their desks, legs stretched out across his own, Nikki's pile of post knocked to the floor where he had clearly kicked it off the edge of her desktop. Rolling his eyes and shouting a 'hi' to Nikki, Leo crouched down to retrieve the post and placed it back beside her computer, in the vain hope that even Harry wouldn't risk putting his feet dangerously close to the computer monitor. And that was the last time Leo gave that letter with the unfamiliar postmark a second thought. The last time, at least, until the phone call came.

It was Nikki's last day of the conference in Bath when it came; although she would be coming home that day, what with it being Friday Leo wasn't expecting to see her until Monday morning, not unless something came up over the weekend. Harry, on the other hand, evidently had plans to see her at some point in the next two days, Leo could tell from the slight smile on his face all morning, from his being in a better mood today than he had been all week in her absence. He was out at a crime scene at the moment- Harry- and so Leo was taking the opportunity to catch up with his paperwork whilst he had some rare peace and quiet. And that was when the phone rang.

A quick glance down at the phone panel told Leo that whoever it was that was calling wasn't after him, they wanted to speak to Nikki; it was the green light next to her phone which was flashing. Normally he could count on Harry to take Nikki's calls for her when she was out of the office, but now of course he wasn't here. And so with a sigh, Leo abandoned his paperwork and leaned over to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

There was a slight hesitation from the other end of the phone before a reply came, perhaps because the caller hadn't been expecting a male voice. "Oh… hi. I'm sorry, I must have the wrong number, I'm trying to reach Nikki Alexander…"

"No, no, this is the right number," Leo explained quickly. "Dr Alexander's out of the office at the moment, but I'm her colleague, I can take a message for you if you like." It was a female voice, Leo realized, a heavily accented female voice which he vaguely recognised but couldn't quite place.

"Leo Dalton? Leo, it's Sara Laurence, from Cape Town. Nikki's friend. We worked together on the 10 Grand case…?"

"Ah, yes, I remember." So that was where he knew the voice from. Leo had only met Sara briefly in Cape Town, though now he knew it was her the voice was unmistakable. "No, Nikki's not here I'm afraid, she's been at a conference all week. Have you tried her mobile?"

"Ja, twice last night, three times this morning, either it's turned off or it's engaged, I can't seem to get hold of her."

Probably on the phone to Harry, Leo reasoned, though it really wasn't his place to be telling Sara that. There was something odd about her tone of voice, stressed, rushed off her feet, though what it was he couldn't tell.

"I see. Well, she's due back tonight, so you could try her at home this evening."

"…OK," Sara replied at last. "OK. But if you hear from her later, you couldn't ask her to give me a call ASAP, could you? Actually…" she sounded thoughtful now, hopeful, just a little less stressed out than she had done moments ago. "Actually, you could probably help me, if you don't mind, you'll know. What's she decided about the job?"

And suddenly Leo was completely confused, taken aback and ever-so-slightly worried all at once.

"The… the job?" he repeated, almost nervously, afraid he knew exactly where this was going but clinging to the hope that he'd got it all wrong. "What job?"

Sara groaned now; if he concentrated hard enough Leo could almost envision her face falling. "She hasn't told you, has she? Shit. Oh shit, I've really gone and put my foot in it now, haven't I?"

"Well…" Leo contemplated. "Well, that depends on what you're getting at. I could just wait for Nikki to bring this up when she gets back and forget you ever dropped me a hint…"

"That's very sweet of you Leo, but I think it's too late for that, I might as well just tell you now," Sara sighed. "I… well… the university my lab's attached to has just taken on a load of doctors fresh out of their junior year who've decided to study pathology, far more than we've had in the past. My colleagues and I really aren't going to be able to cope with them all, not a hope, so the university asked me to recommend someone who might be prepared to help us out for this academic year…"

"And you recommended Nikki," Leo finished for her. Suddenly his heart was heavy, a strange feeling taking him over which he hadn't properly felt since he and Theresa had sent Cassie off on a school residential trip for the first time, just a couple of weeks before she died. Snap out of it, Leo, he told himself firmly. She's just a friend, a colleague and a friend, that's all. She's not tied to you, you know, she doesn't have to stay here for the rest of her career. You must have known she'd want to move on at some point.

It was only at that point Leo realized that he sounded like an overbearing father struggling to come to terms with the idea of his little girl leaving home.

"Right," he said at last, waiting a while before he trusted himself enough to keep his voice level. "Right, well… well Nikki hasn't actually mentioned it to me yet, so I'm afraid I can't tell you what she's planning on doing. How did she sound when you made the offer to her, just out of interest?"

"Well, that's the thing, I haven't actually discussed it with her either," Sara confessed. "I didn't make her the offer, the university did, I was told to wait until she'd received the letter from them before I spoke to her about it. I was expecting her to have called me by now, to tell you the truth, unless she's decided she doesn't want to do it and she's worried about telling me…"

And that was when it clicked. The abnormally large envelope with the foreign looking postmark that he'd left on her desk back on Monday, suddenly Leo had a feeling he knew exactly what it was.

"No, I don't think it's that," Leo explained quickly. "A whole load of post's come through for Nikki this week while she's been away and I'm sure we didn't get much last week, I think there's a good chance it's sat on her desk unopened and she doesn't know a thing about it yet."

"Ah. Ah, I see," Sara realized. "OK. Well, any chance you can make sure she opens it first thing on Monday morning?"

"Yep, that's fine," Leo assured her. "I have a feeling Harry might be seeing her before then, actually, if he is then I'll get him to give it to her."

"OK, thanks. But don't tell Harry about this, OK, not if Nikki doesn't know. Our secret, ja, just until Nikki knows."

"OK." To be perfectly honest that part of it all left Leo incredibly relieved, the last thing he wanted was to have to tell Harry that there was a chance Nikki might be disappearing off to Africa for a year; god only knew how he was going to take that one. Not too well, he suspected. Not too well at all.

"Leo? Leo, I… I'm not trying to take her away from you, you know? She loves it over there with you and Harry, I know she does. It'd only be for a year, no more than that. She'd come back to you afterwards."

What was he supposed to say to that? Sara's awkwardness at his hearing about her plan to steal Nikki away for a year was blindingly obvious, even over the phone, and a part of him felt strangely affronted, angry that she could have picked anyone for this job and yet she had to pick Nikki, had to pick someone from the other side of the world, break up their carefully constructed, family-like Lyell Centre group. And yet at the same time he understood. He knew that Sara looked on Nikki as a little sister just as he looked on her as a daughter, just as Harry looked on her as… well, as a complex mish-mash of best friend and something more. She meant so much to all of them, seemed to have a way of being instantly liked, working her way into their lives out of the blue and never leave. He and Harry couldn't keep her forever, Leo knew that. He had suspected this time might one day come ever since Zambia two years ago, ever since that afternoon on the plain when she had remarked on how she hadn't realized how much she had missed Africa, how she didn't know how anyone could even contemplate leaving. He had suspected she might one day decide to go back, temporarily or permanently. But that didn't mean he liked it, not one little bit.